Poor Coraline, these first two photos were taken of her on Christmas morning -- just a few hours after opening presents -- and NYE -- just an hour before we were suppose to start celebrating. She managed to be sick on both those days! Of course, she was a little sick the days before and after, but her worst sicknesses (and they were totally unconnected) were on the two big holidays.
Christmas day she just ran a fever and had no energy or appetite. When the other three kids woke up in the morning (all five of us were sleeping in Nell's room), they begged to go upstairs and see what Santa had delivered. But when I asked Coraline if she wanted to go open presents or stay in bed, she chose stay in bed. That's how bad it was. I'm assuming it's what Nell and Reid had about 2 weeks earlier -- which led to Nell being our first child in the ER (it was just for an IV, but still -- she gets to claim it)!
Either on Christmas day or Christmas Eve, Nell and Coraline were jumping off Nell's bed onto Reid's mattress (it's how we managed to have all five of us sleep in there on Christmas Eve, and all four kids the night before that). Coraline bit her tongue real hard when she landed and somehow that evolved into her having thrush. So that's what got her down NYE. Anyway, I think she's finally on the road to recovery.
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| Here's a sweet photo of just the three sisters having one of several sleepovers. |
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| Mara so happy to show off her new baby (and jammies) Christmas morning |
The fact that we experienced both sunny skies with 50 degree temps and a snowfall fit for sledding probably helps. Christmas morning was foggy, but that didn't stop Ben and Reid from venturing over to the Nature Preserve. Ben on foot, and Reid on his new bike. On Sunday, when the sky was clear and the temperature rose to 50 all six of us had a nice family walk up and down the street; and then Reid, Nell and I biked over to the nature center.
*I'll have to add the photo Ben took of him and Mara later*
Less than 48 hours later Reid and I were up blowing the snow off our own and our neighbor's driveways. He's pretty handy with a small engine.
Before lunchtime on Tuesday I managed to get everyone wrangled for a sledding trip. It was honestly more fun than our sunshiny family walk. Mara was the best little sledder around. She giggled the whole way down the hill. It's funny, cause I know I would have never even let Reid near a sledding hill at that age. She sure has some sweet advantages as the baby. I'll have to upload some videos later. We seriously had a blast together. It helped that we had the whole park to ourselves.
Reid wasn't about to leave the sledding hill for the playground (Coraline probably wouldn't have either if she was feeling herself -- this was all on NYE morning). But he did manage to show off his snow craziness when we got home from Coraline's doctor appointment. I can't believe that kid just laid in the snow without a coat or gloves or a dare. I mean, his dad wasn't even home, so this silly-ness was all on him!
We did manage to make it to the YMCA NYE party for a little bit. I knew Mara and Coraline would love the bounce house, so I promised them that before Lou was too sick. Reid and Ben came along to play Basketball, and lucky Nell was actually invited to go along with her friend Addy's family. So she was there the full 3 hours and has hardly stopped talking about it since.
Speaking of the YMCA, I started working at the downtown Y drop in center back in October. So far, the kids love it. Here are some shots I took of them during one of my shifts over the break. I'll have to write a separate post about the whole new job thing later.
Let's stick to the holidays here. Christmas Eve was probably my favorite, even though it did not go off without a string of disappointments, the #1 being I super overcooked the ham. That kind of threw off our whole dinner, but after some serious cussing and pouting from moi, we managed to pull off a nice dinner that even included our fancy Christmas plates. The kids still loved it. Even Coraline, who -- despite feeling pretty fine that whole day -- only ate peas because she is really just that picky.
After dinner we organized ourselves for a family program. Modern technology really made it special because we called Grandma and Grandpa Bassett over our echo show, and they were able to be a part of the whole thing. I think this was our first official Szilagyi family Christmas Eve program, but it is sure to be an annual event now!
It started with Mara sharing a couple Santa jokes. Where does Santa stay on vacation? A Ho-ho-ho-tel! What do you call a poor Santa? Saint Nickless! She was pretty excited to be our jokester. After that Reid and Nell each performed a piano piece. Nell's was Jingle Bells and Reid's was something from the Nutcracker. Next, Coraline recited a little poem about Jesus and the Star. She requested I make a cutout star for her to hold up. It was pretty sweet. Then Reid and Nell each played another piano piece. Reid played Silent Night and Nell's was Away in a Manger. We were suppose to finish off with a reading of that night's advent book, The Three Trees, but Nell added an impromptu caroling bit that I just loved.
Before we hung up my mom told the kids they needed to call Carol and carol for her! So we did and we were able to see just about the whole Szilagyi crew! After all that we finally read our book and tucked these sweet kids into bed.
The most loved gift was probably Nell's bathrobe that I could not for the life of me find before I went to bed Christmas Eve evening. I did finally find it the day after Christmas, and within 24 hours I'd ordered each kid their very own robe. Cause they didn't already have enough, ha! I know Mara's will be a waste, but the three big kids have really loved and used theirs.
Ben was teasing me one night for getting a 333 day head start on next year's book advent, but when I wrapped the last book, finished off the entire roll of wrapping paper, the entire roll of tape, and filled the book bin perfectly, I was pretty damn proud of myself. It was like my whole life had been leading up to this great moment. Really, what are the odds of everything aligning so perfectly? I had to snap a picture.
I also had to wake up the next morning and rearrange those books because I had nightmares about all their spines breaking. They are now properly lined up (instead of stacked) in two different containers, cushioned by Christmas jammies and socks.
Reid and Nell each had a friend over for a few hours the day it started snowing (which was also the day after the 50 degree weather). They were pretty happy to see a school friend and have some time to play with someone beside their siblings. But they are also pretty darn happy to just play with their siblings.
Or even their Mama! Reid's become quite the gaming buddy for both me and his dad. For me, it's card and board games and with Ben it's video games.
A couple other funny shots from our break were taken today. Nell was able to come grocery shopping with just me, and boy how I revel in that one on one time with my kiddos. It is so good for their souls. Anyway, when we approached the checkout she became so excited and told me "Grandma and Grandpa need one of these" and happily pointed to a little ice cream treat freezer. I thought it was so sweet that she'd see all those ice cream treats and think: this freezer is the perfect gift for two people I love so much (despite physically seeing them so little). We had to take a photo and send it to them. And that clever grandma, her response was that Nell was right, they did need one Belle Nell at their house! I mean forget the ice cream box, how could you pass up that sweet girl!
And finally, tonight as I was scrolling through my gallery, I noticed a dozen selfies Mara took while she was suppose to be watching cartoons on my bed.
Oh that silly girl, I don't even know how she did them as screenshots! She's going to outsmart me soon enough!
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